American cellist Hugh Livingston premieres his new improvised work
Fragile in a performance and discussion. The sounds explore the
limits of cello sonority, creating a fragile edge that redefines
traditional bel canto expressivity. Literally on the precipice, it
unites Lachenmann, Xenakis, Feldman, questioning what cello should
sound like and what virtuosity is.
Fragile will be presented along with an 8-channel sound installation
created for the gallery based on Hugh’s sound collections from
Slavonice.
Hugh Livingston is a cellist and composer of unusual operas and
public sound installations. Hugh has degrees in contemporary music
from the California Institute of the Arts and the University of
California San Diego. Hugh graduated cum laude in music from Yale,
the recipient of the Yale Bach Society Prize for excellence in
musicianship and contribution to musical life. His areas of interest
are spatialization, the nature-music continuum, improvisation,
electroacoustic music, and Asian fusion, particularly Japanese and
Chinese. Hugh composes situational music, responses to spaces,
artists, architecture and design, history and people. He has
catalogued 120 different pizzicato techniques for the cello and
conducted extensive research in China. Hugh will present CelloHouse
Slavonice 2010 at the Centre for the Future in Slavonice, September
2010. Centropa cellists and media artists will be invited to
participate in a weeklong seminar on new music, improvisation, and
sound installation, with a daylong final performance.
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